Ten minutes later, the twins left with complicated expressions.
They had never felt quite like this before. There was excitement, the thrill of finally putting their grand ideas into action, and yet at the same time the sharp sting of being thoroughly fleeced by Tom.
Thirty percent of their future Weasley joke shop was now his.
On top of that, every promotional push would require additional fees.
Tom had to be a vampire disguised as a wizard. He was practically draining them dry.
But once they had chosen to board this ship, they would not hesitate. The twins were nothing if not decisive, especially when it came to pranks. Their enthusiasm and patience in that area far exceeded ordinary people.
Within days, they had replenished their stock and returned to Tom.
"Just wait," they told him. "You'll see the results tonight."
...
That evening, most students were in their common rooms, either finishing homework or chatting idly with friends.
Suddenly, every single WhatsApp notebook began vibrating wildly.
The tremor lasted about two seconds before stopping.
Curious murmurs filled the rooms as students opened their notebooks. The pages flipped automatically to the latest entry, and glowing text slowly appeared.
[Grand Opening of Weasley's Joke Shop! Celebrate our launch with special discounts! Spend over one Galleon and receive 10 percent off your total purchase. Current products include…]
A long list of items followed.
The common rooms fell so silent that the wind outside could be heard against the windows. Everyone was reading carefully.
It was not that every student was fascinated by prank items.
It was because this was the first time WhatsApp had ever done something like this.
There was no doubt.
Tom was behind it.
...
Inside his personal pocket world, Tom stood within a sealed chamber. Dozens of glowing magical runes floated in the air, flickering in shifting patterns.
Most wizards did not truly understand what runes were. Even alchemists who used them frequently only applied them, rarely analyzing their deeper principles.
Runes were characters born with innate magic. They could be understood as language capable of communicating with the world to draw power. Words acted as vessels for magic, manifesting in various forms.
The most famous were the Ancient Runes of Norse origin, twenty four symbols in total. Each symbol carried meaning. Isa, for instance, represented ice, stillness, silence.
Merely inscribing Isa could rapidly chill a bottle of water or freeze it solid. Combine runes in different sequences, and increasingly complex effects could be expressed.
But the runes floating before Tom were not Ancient Runes.
They were his own creation.
He had casually named them Communication Runes, designed to carry and display vast quantities of information.
When Grindelwald and Andros learned that Tom had developed an entire runic system, they had been incredulous. At their level, they could design a few personal runes tailored to their magic, but constructing a complete, functional system as Tom had done was something else entirely.
A year ago, Tom had been little more than a newcomer in their eyes.
Yet he had done it.
And not only done it, but made it operational.
No one knew how much he had sacrificed behind the scenes. For a period of time, every academic credit he earned was thrown into Extraordinary Mode simply to hammer out the basic framework of his runes. The cost had reached four to five thousand credits.
Later, he had obtained certain notes containing arcane knowledge from another world. The runic traditions there were not merely legendary but ancient beyond measure. Some traced back to Old Gods, others to world forging Titans. Tom could only scrape fragments of that knowledge, yet even those fragments allowed him to refine his own system and increase its information capacity.
Combined with a leap in cognition and a rare moment of blinding inspiration, he had pushed the Communication Rune system close to perfection.
Even now, recalling that instant of revelation left him breathless.
It had felt as if the world itself had opened its secrets to him. Any knowledge he desired seemed within reach, as though he could trace the most efficient path forward simply by thinking.
If only that state had lasted longer.
With more time, he might have elevated his runes beyond the bounds of legend.
"Targeted delivery… automatic display and storage… no, there should also be a deletion function. Otherwise long term accumulation will consume too much of the user's mental storage. Complaints are inevitable."
Tom's fingers danced in the air. The runes shifted in brightness and rearranged themselves according to his will, like a Muggle programmer writing code.
This was the first time he had activated the push function. There were still refinements to be made. Once satisfied, he could formally optimize the application.
...
The next morning, thanks to the previous night's advertisement, the entire school already knew about Weasley's Joke Shop and its pricing.
At dawn, students began seeking out the twins.
George and Fred were overwhelmed with transactions before breakfast. Their carefully prepared stock dwindled rapidly, coins clinking into their pouches at a satisfying pace.
Before, they had hesitated to manufacture too much, unsure whether there would be demand.
Now, that concern had vanished.
They could produce freely, invest more in research, and expand their product line.
Ron watched them counting Galleons with aching envy.
Finally, unable to hold back, he sidled up awkwardly.
"Er… brothers," he began, forcing the word out. "Need any help?"
"Merlin's nose hair," George exclaimed dramatically, dropping a Galleon into his pouch. "Did you hear that, Fred? Ronnie just called us brothers."
"I heard it," Fred replied solemnly. "Mark this historic day. We should celebrate it every year."
"You're absolutely right."
George examined Ron thoughtfully, then shook his head with exaggerated regret.
"Sorry, Ronnie. I honestly can't think of anything you could help with. Hire you? We'd be better off asking Ginny."